ChilliPepperPete

Street Food from Kolkata (Capital of West Bengal, Indian)

by Hot Juan on January 24, 2012 · 1 comment

in Book Reviews

A very off looking parcel arrived in the post a few days ago from ChilliPepperPete, this was not his normal bottle of sauce or pack of amazing dried chillies, this was something completely different..

Odd looking package from ChilliPepperPete

Odd looking package from ChilliPepperPete

Kolkata or Calcutta as we probably better know it is the capital of  the Indian sate of West Bengal, with a population of over 14 million, it  was the capital of India until 1911. With 14million people to feed there is a thriving street food culture and in this package is a small book and DVD put together by Angus Denoon with the assistance of Sunil Misro.

Street Food Kolkata

Street Food Kolkata

The book is not a recipes book but a guide to the street food available, it covers the basic ingredients and this then split into the three main meals of the day:-

Morningside –  Staring with Chai  tea made with buffalo milk, tea flakes, ginger, cardamom and Sugar, it then covers the other delights of the local breakfast cuisine including  Chholar Bhatura, Jelabi, Halwa, Chana Sattu, Satti Pani to name but a few, each includes some excellent pictures and a description of the how they are made, not a recipe more of a enticement to taste them.

Lunch Time – What is a for lunch in Kolkata? The guide again includes some mouthwatering descriptions of dishes, I wish I could taste now, with pictures to match, Biryani, Rori, Tumali. Chowmein, Momo stall all get a mention, before we read about Chaat, Phuchka and Hhal Mouri, for a small book this list of delights seems endless with more that I mention in this review before getting on to the range of drinks

Evening Time –  Out comes the Kalto Kebab Rolls and then for the Bengali Sweets and Kulfi an Indian form of ice cream that is  coloured and flavoured with saffron.

The DVD that accompanies the book is in the form of a film lasting just over an hours that takes you through a day in Kalkata vis the street food, the colours are rich and deep, it shows us soft westerners the frenetic life of the street food merchants as they pre pair and describe there wares.

The DVD also includes options to see the traders serving up Lime Pani, Ghugni Chaat, and the equivalent of the Kolkata paper cup  from manufacture to being discarded. In last short section  we seen Angus as a jhal muri wallah working his trade not in Kalkata but more locally in Brighton.

To wet your appetite Angus has a much much shorter version on the web.

You can order this package from the ChilliPepperPete web site and if you want to know more about Angus and his travels, film making and his alternate career as Brightons own jhal muri wallah then visit www.streetfoodkolkata.com.

Descriptions
(8/10)
Photo/Illustrations
(7.5/10)
Design & Layout
(6/10)
Value
(8/10)
Overall
(7.5/10)

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Celebrate Chinese New Year – Recipe 2 – Hot and Sour Soup

by ChilliPepperPete on January 23, 2012 · 0 comments

in Recipes

ChilliPepperPete has also sent us his recipe for a Hot and Sour Soup. this is one of his family favourtites, as with his other recipes, below is just a starting point.

Ingredients:

  • 4 dried chinese mushrooms
  • 4 tablespoons tree ears
  • 12 tiger lily buds
  • 5 cups vegetable stock
  • 250g bean curd cut into 1/2 squares
  • can of bamboo shoots drained cut into small strips
  • 3 tblsp light soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp sugar or honey
  • 3 tbls rice vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp ground pepper
  • 6 facing heaven or chinese white for a milder soup.
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 chopped spring onion.
Instructions:
  1. Soak the mushrooms to rehydrate in hot water for 1/2 an hour. Rinse the tree ears in cold water and also soak in hot water. Soak the tiger lily buds in another bowl of hot water also.
  2. Strain them all after haf an hour. keep a cupfull of the soaking lquid and cut the mushrooms stems and caps into this lengths. Cut the tree ears into small pieces and drain the tiger lily buds and cut off the hard nobs and pull each bud apart into 2 long shreds.
  3. Bring the veg stock to a boil in a large saucepan drop in the chopped mushrooms and tiger lily buds with the reserved soaking water of the mushrooms. Cover pan and cook for 10 minutes.
  4. Remove cover and add the bean curd, bamboos shoots, soy sauce, sugar/honey, vinegar, pepper and chillis of choice and bring to the boil again.
  5. Lightly beat the egg and slowly pour into the soup stirring constantly. Stir in the sesame oil, sprinkle on the chopped onion and serve.

It seems a bit complicated but its mainly the preparation which takes the time.

Remember that you can always add more chilli if its not hot enough for your palate but you cant take it out if you overdo it.

Of course chilli sauce can be used for a different dimension or finely chopped chicken or beef fish or whatever takes your fancy.

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Celebrate Chinese New Year – Recipe 1 – Szechuan Style Hotpot

by ChilliPepperPete on January 23, 2012 · 0 comments

in Recipes

Hotpot - (Borrowed image)

Hotpot - (Borrowed image)

ChilliPepperPete has just sent us his recipe for a Szechuan Style Hotpot. Hotpot are available on Amazon, there seem to be two main types, the Mongolian type with 1 bowl and a centre for grilling/bbqing, while the Szechuan Hotpot has a bowl split in half so 1 side has a stock with lots of spices and chillis and the other a nonchillied stock with lots of herbs and onions. If you don’t have a Hotpot you can always use a saucepan and a portable burner or a camping gas burner.

You can put in what you like but the idea is to have it at a rolling boil in the centre of the table and to drop or hold in whatever you have prepared. Its a very leisurely way of eating and theres no rush to finish it. Meals can take all afternoon and evening. The flavours get more intense as the level in the pot drops and more water can be poured in to keep it going.

Suggestions for the stock are chicken bones and bits with a chopped leek and onion, carrot and some herbs boiled for an hour or so until it has reduced to a nice thick stock. Or it can be made with a few stock cubes veggie or meat etc if home made stock is not an option.

Once its drained with all the bits taken out chuck in the spices typically: 1 or 2 whole star anise, 1 or 2 whole nutmeg, various seeds like coriander and cumin with bay leaf, parsley and coriander with 20 facing heaven chillies cut in half with scissors. If you want it hotter add some Naga or Habanero or some Chipotle to make it smokey. Sichuan pepper lightly crushed is a must.

Pour water in to near the top of the pan and bring to a rolling boil. Keep it boiling while you play with it.

You can dip or drop anything you have into the boiling stock. Sliced meats, chicken, vegetables, mushrooms, sausages, noodles, potatoes etc etc. Whatever you have in the fridge really.

This is as much fun as you can have while eating and its very sociable with friends and families.

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ChileFoundry Newsletter – News and Articles from December 2011

by Hot Juan on January 1, 2012 · 0 comments

in General Information

Well what a good year 2011 was for UK Chilli Businesses, we have seen some excellent new chilli products released, and 2012 we already have 100′s of product promised or here already for review.

Our great thanks to all who submitted articles to us during 2011, our team is always changing and growing, this year we are hoping to get more manufacturers involved in submitting articles, recipes and stories.

Below you will find a list of what we published during December 2011 including just encase you missed then our popular 12 Days for Christmas series, we look forward to an even more busy 201 and I am sure we will see you all at one of the 20 odd Chilli related events in the UK.

Our 12 Days of Christmas (in reverse order of appearance)

Angela Garbes - The Everything Hot Sauce Book

Angela Garbes - The Everything Hot Sauce Book

News & Info(in reverse order of appearance)

The Smokey Upton Dragon

The Smokey Upton Dragon

Reviews (in reverse order of appearance)

Chilliqueen Extra Hot Chilli Jelly

Chilliqueen Extra Hot Chilli Jelly

Recipes (in reverse order of appearance)

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This Newsletter is sponsored by Hot-Headz

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